They Might Be Giants ‘Nanobots’ Album Review

For a band that has been so prolific over so many years it seems likely that They Might Be Giants would have worn out their welcome a long time ago, but something about these guys has made them eternally likeable, or at least hard to hate. The worst case scenario for TMBG is to be dismissed and forgotten, but that hasn’t happened either, largely because they have found ways to get their songs onto TV shows like Tiny Toon Adventures or Malcolm in the Middle, or more recently used in donut commercials and viral videos. They will find you, they will strap you down, and they will manually glue a catchy tune into your head if they have to.

Nanobots is one of the more perfect examples of their prolificacy, with 25 tracks, and it definitely represents their style of late. It’s a collection of bite-sized musical diversions that don’t really amount to much of anything at all, but they are likeable, or again, at least hard to hate.

Of these 25 songs, only one exceeds 3 minutes in length, and nine are under a minute. Just about all of them would be great intro songs for one TV show or another, but that doesn’t necessarily make them work in the context of an album. It hardly feels like an album at all, but more like a portfolio of sometimes half-baked ideas. You could say that about much of TMBG’s music, but this album seems to embrace it more than ever before.

The song “Nanobots” is mildly catchy, mildly humorous and mildly irritating, and that represents the album very well as far as I’m concerned. Each of those points is subjective, but each of them is preceded by the word “mildly” and going at least that far doesn’t seem like it’s up for debate.

I can’t imagine anybody who would absolutely love these songs, but I can definitely think of a whole lot of people who would at least like them. Nobody will find their favorite song of all time on this record. It’s not very good, but it’s not very bad, and there are one or two songs just catchy enough to make up for all of those that are rather forgettable.

“You’re On Fire” is probably the best song here, showing the band’s great songwriting prowess and pop sensibility. Like every song on Nanobots, the lyrics are just kind of silly, but you could take it pretty seriously as an anthem for not taking things too seriously. More importantly, you could dance to it without feeling like you were at a children’s birthday party, which is a problem with the other 24 tracks.

The two songs I’ve covered here are actually the first two on the record, and beyond that point it’s just sort of the same thing a whole lot. Unfortunately, it never gets as good as “You’re On Fire” again. It really does feel like a children’s album, which makes sense because these guys have put out a couple of legitimate children’s albums, but by the fifth song I was pretty tired of it and had 20 more to go.

The problem is that these songs are supposed to be funny, and the joke is that none of them really are. It’s not that they aren’t fun, but they’re not funny. Nothing is clever enough to impress, or so hysterical you will burst into laughter on your commute to work. They’re just a bit silly, the same sort of humor you would really expect from an album rated for children ages six-to-eight, and it feels like a joke that has worn thin.

If you liked the Malcolm in the Middle theme song, “Boss of Me”, you can expect the same here. In fact, all of these songs should be used as intros for television sitcoms, which is the only context in which most people would really be able to appreciate them.